Also of note, job gains for May and June were revised upward for a combined total of 14,000 more jobs than were originally reported, according to the BLS. Smoke said the job growth in the last year, which has been consistently strong in the last nine months, has been a key reason for stronger housing demand this year.
Read More »Job Gains Total 223,000 in June, But Wage Growth Stalls; Participation Rate Stays Low
The U6 unemployment rate, which counts both people without work seeking full-time employment and those workers "marginally attached to the labor force and those working part-time for economic reasons," dropped 0.3 percentage points month over month down to 10.5 percent and is down from 12.1 percent in June 2014.
Read More »‘Positive’ Job Openings Report Says ‘Quits’ Are Down, Which Could Push Wage Growth
A slight decrease in the quits rate down to 1.9 percent (2.7 million quits) in April suggests that workers may be looking to better their situations, which could push wage growth in the coming months – a factor economists say will be a key driver in homeownership growth and new household formation.
Read More »Data Shows April Was Prosperous For Housing
In the NAHB's Eye on Housing blog, Crowe cited a number of positive housing statistics that indicate that April was a prosperous month for the industry in spite of the U.S. economy contracting at an annualized rate of minus 7 percent in Q1. The lack of economic growth in Q1 did nothing to damper economists' predictions about housing recovery for 2015, however, largely because of strong April numbers.
Read More »Housing Market Will Benefit From Increased Job Gains, Economists Say
Revised, employment gains for March and April were a combined 32,000 more than previously reported (March's job gains were revised from 85,000 up to 119,000, and April's were revised down slightly from 223,000 to 221,000). With approximately 3.01 million jobs added in the last year and the job situation seemingly recovered from a disappointing March, the housing market may be reaping the benefits later in the year, according to analysts.
Read More »Employment Gains Rebound in April; March’s Disappointing Report Was An ‘Aberration’
March's already low reported job gains total of 126,000 was revised even further lower in April's report, down to 85,000. Combined with February's job gains revision from 264,000 to 266,000 in April, employment gains in February and March combined were 39,000 lower than originally reported. Job gains have averaged 191,000 per month over the past three months.
Read More »Analyst Says Nation’s 5.6 Percent Unemployment Rate is Misleading
While the Obama Administration is touting monthly job gains consistently averaging more than 200,000 and a labor market that they say is at its healthiest level since the turn of the century, at least one analyst says that the recently reported national unemployment rate of 5.6 percent may not be telling the complete story.
Read More »Unemployment Rate Falls, Payrolls Increase in Most Metro Areas
Continued labor market improvements may bode well for the housing market for the coming year, since housing relies on steady nationwide employment to flourish, according to some economists' predictions. The national unemployment rate continues to drop – December's rate of 5.4 percent is a decline of 1.1 percentage points from the same month a year earlier.
Read More »Unemployment Rate Falls in 42 States Monthly in December
The latest improvements in regional and state employment statistics across the United States are keeping in line with the latest drop in the nation's unemployment rate (down to 5.6 percent in December) – and in line with analysts' assessments of consistently improving economic and labor conditions.
Read More »Fannie Mae Economist Says Latest Job Data Might Not Be Good News For Housing
The U.S. labor market reported a strong gain of 252,000 jobs on the payrolls for December in data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Friday. December's job gain was close to 2014's average monthly increase and 2014 was the best year of job growth in the U.S. since 1999. According to Fannie Mae Chief Economist Doug Duncan, the underlying data may not be so encouraging for the housing market, however.
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